Bronze Saint Birthday Collection
by Naotoki Yamanouchi
Summary: Chapter 2: Hyoga found himself thinking about her more and more often. What he didn't realize was she was also thinking about him.
1. Emerald Angel

A/N: This is something similar to the Gold Saint Birthday Collection, only instead I am going to use shorter stories. Starting with Seiya, I will cover Seiya, Hyoga, Ikki, Shun, Shiryu, and Jabu (in that order). Each story will be approximately 700 words, but if I run a little over or under, I'm not going to stress. Enjoy!

This was not how he expected to spend his twenty-third birthday. Cooped up in a hospital room, his leg held in traction and trapped inside an itchy cast, with nurses poking and prodding him every hour on the hour. And not young, pretty nurses, either, that would have been asking too much. His main nurse was a two-hundred pound she-male named Bertha.

He threw himself crankily against his pillow, looking to all the world like a pouting teenager instead of the young hero he was. He didn't understand what the big deal was. He had fallen on a ski trip and broken his leg. A cast and crutches were all he really needed. Unfortunately, the doctors seemed to think otherwise, and as they were the ones with the degree and he was a mere college student, he had had to undergo surgery to put pins in his leg and spend three days under observation.

Good to know that after ten years of performing super-human feats, he was still human enough to break his leg like anyone else.

The door creaked open, and a figure slipped in. A woman, Seiya saw immediately, and not one of the nasty she-males, either. Even in the faint lighting, he could see the splendid curves of her body, the long hair that cascaded in loose waves nearly to her waist. Her emerald eyes, his favorite feature, were like lasers, piercing the darkness, straight to his heart.

"Ah, Shaina. Have you come to have that rematch you swore about ten years ago?"

She clucked her tongue and stared at him. He really looked pitiful.

"No. I came to make sure you weren't doing anything stupid" She looked around the room. "Where are your friends? I expected to find this room packed."

He shifted to the best of his ability and gazed at the clock by his bed.

"Shaina, it's three in the morning. How did you get in? They sent everyone home _hours_ ago."

"You should know by now that I have my ways, Seiya."

He watched her curiously as she opened the door again and pulled a basket into the room.

His curiosity turned to sheer delight as she started unpacking all sorts of Italian goodies. Festive, tri-colored rainbow cookies, biscotti, cannolis, tiramisu. She always made him desserts from her Italian background-so she wouldn't forget her heritage, she claimed-but never had she brought him so much at one time.

She wasn't done yet. Next, she unpacked a thermos and two cups and set those aside on his night stand. The last thing she pulled out surprised him. It was an apricot cream cake, topped with a rich, chocolate mascarpone frosting. Happy Birthday, Seiya was written on it in white block letters.

"Shaina-did you bake all this! You're an angel!", he declared.

"Shh...not so loud", she hissed back. "And if you tell anyone about this, I will deny it. Then I will kill you."

He laughed, eyes as rich as the chocolate icing on the cake dancing with mischief.

"Or you could just marry me and be done with it."

"Seiya..."

"No, it's not the pain meds talking, I'm serious. I was going to wait until Christmas, but..." he guestered towards the night stand. "Open the top drawer."

She opened the drawer with shaking hands. Inside was a black ring box.

"Bring it to me", he instructed.

She handed the ring box to him and he opened it, revealing a white-gold band and a sparkling aquamarine gemstone-her birthstone. Two smaller, darker blue stones sat on either side of the aquamarine-blue topaz. The birthstone for December. The thought he had put into the ring surprised her.

"I guess I can't exactly get down on bended knee...but my mouth still works. Shaina, will you marry me?"

"Of course, Seiya", she replied, tears welling in her eyes.

He slipped the ring onto her finger and laid back against the stack of pillows.

"That was easier than I thought it would be, seeing how long it took Aiolia to ask Marin" he commented, a happy grin on his face.

She swatted his shoulder.

"Aiolia was a special case."

She handed him a piece of the cake and a mug containing hot chocolate-the contents in the thermos.

"Oh! Thank you, Shaina!"

She shook her head and laughed, too used to his childish behavior by now.

"Happy birthday, Seiya."


	2. An Unexpected Visit

A/N: Before I get bombarded, no, Natassia is not an OC. She is from the Side Story in Volume 13 entitled "The Swan's Tale: Natassia of the Land of Ice". I'm not sure why I started speculating the two as a pairing, as I generally like Hyoga as the bachelor of the Bronze Boys, but I found myself intrigued, so I gave it a whirl. Let me know what you think. If I get positive feedback on this pairing, I may try my hand at a longer HyogaXNatassia story. Enjoy.

It was not a fairytale meeting-or even a fairytale departure. He was knocked unconscious, bound in chains, and woke up in cell in the palace of Bluegrad. That was when he met her. She was the princess of the land, a kind girl who begged him to protect her father. Her name was Natassia, and because of that, he developed an immediate soft spot for her. He couldn't save his mother, but he could help this girl who bore the same name.

After his departure from Bluegrad, he found himself thinking about Natassia more and more. He separated her from his mother, and instead remembered her for her strength. For having the courage to ask someone to stand up against her own flesh and blood because she knew what her brother was doing was wrong.

He hadn't seen her in years. He wondered if she was doing well.

He was so lost in thought that he almost fell out of his chair when Seiya's face suddenly appeared in his line of vision.

"Seiya!" he cried. "What are you doing here?"

The Pegasus Saint laughed- a sound Hyoga found that he had missed. It was his first time seeing Seiya in almost four years.

Chocolate brown eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Besides freezing my ass off, you mean? I don't know how you can stand this kind of weather."

"I got used to it-how did you get in?"

"Oh, Jacob let me in"

Seiya smiled even wider, and Hyoga found himself smiling, too. It really was good to see a friend again. He wondered what Shun, Shiryu, and Saori were up to. Somehow he knew where Ikki was.

"You totally have no idea what today is, do you?"

Hyoga frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's your eighteenth birthday."

Hyoga's ice blue eyes widened and he immediately grabbed the calendar. January 23rd. Seiya was right.

"Well, would you look at that…"

The Pegasus Saint grabbed his wrist, all the enthusiasm he'd had as a child still in him. Seiya would never grow up.

A helicopter was waiting outside. Hyoga lifted an eyebrow.

"Seiya, where are we going?"

"Back to Greece. We have a surprise for you."

"We?"

Seiya didn't say another world. He simply pushed Hyoga ahead of him into the helicopter and settled into one of the seats. Hyoga sighed, seeing he wasn't going to get any more information out of Seiya, and followed his friend's example.

Three hours later, they touched down in Greece. Hyoga was pleasantly surprised-it was a reunion. His surprise quickly turned to loneliness as he realized he was the only one present who did not have somebody.

Seiya had Miho. Shun was there, his arm looped around June's waist. Shiryu held Shunrei's hand, Saori smiled at him from under Julian's arm. Sorrento and Tethys stood nearby, looking slightly uncomfortable.

Everyone had paired off, yet here he stood, still single.

Seiya looked around, as though he was searching for someone. Hyoga was curious. What was going on?

"Hyoga!" Shun called, rushing over. "It's so good to see you again!"

"You, too!" Hyoga replied, his curiosity turning into joy again.

It really was nice to be with his friends again.

For the next few hours, he mingled and caught up. They talked, laughed, and discussed what had happened in four years.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her. She arrived with her brother, Alexer, and he'd be lying if he said she wasn't beautiful.

"N-Natassia?" he asked, his eyes widening.

He rushed over to her.

The girl smiled it him.

"Hyoga", she whispered. "It's been a long time. Thank you for saving my life."

Alexer excused himself, though where he was going, Hyoga didn't know. He suspected the now-King of Bluegrad was trying to give them some privacy.

"I would have done it for anyone", Hyoga replied, smiling at her. "How did you find out about the party?"

"Your friend Seiya set this whole thing up. He helped me locate you-Alexer and I have been looking for you since that day. We found Seiya first."

"You have?"

Hyoga was taken aback.

Natassia looked at her feet.

"I…I wanted to learn more about you. Our time together was so short, but I haven't been able to get you out of my mind."

Her pale cheeks flushed with high color.

He gently reached out and took her hand.

"I understand. I could say the same about you."

They stood there for a few moments, locked in each other's eyes. After four years of separation, neither wanted to let the other out of their sight.

"So now that you've found me, where do you want to go from here?" Hyoga finally asked.

"Well", Natassia replied. "Alexer and I would like it if you came to stay with us at Bluegrad as our honored guest for a while."

Hyoga thought it over.

"I suppose it would be rude of me to turn down the invitation."

She smiled.

"Thank you, Hyoga. That would make me very happy."

Hyoga wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

Together, the two stood in companionable silence, looking at the stars and enjoying one another's company.


End file.
